Vehicle Description
1974 Ford Econoline Van
No single vehicle better represents the good times and easy-living
lifestyle of the 1970s better than does a custom van. The
personalized van covered all the bases. It was part muscle car,
part apartment on wheels, and, of course, part art canvas, serving
as a very groovy way to express oneself. It gave dudes and dudettes
with long, feathered hair, bell bottoms, and an affinity for going
topless a place to hang out with friends, take on camping
adventures, or just cruise paved landscapes such as Woodward Avenue
or Van Nuys Boulevard. (Thx to Car and Driver for aid in this
intro!)
As we say at Classic Auto Mall you never know what is coming
through the door next, and when this consignment showed up, I had
to turn my head and look twice to truly believe what my wandering
eyes were beholding. Harkening back to the era of free love,
hippies and the beautiful people, we have a 1974 Customized Ford
Econoline Van AND not only is it the quintessential love machine,
it has a mere ...wait for it...873 miles clocked on it. You have to
ask yourself who has the forethought to buy a new van, spend
thousands of dollars on it for a shaggy, airbrushed, side piped
customization, and not experience the open road, drug culture,
music festival wild lifestyle? Only right here for the taking at
Classic Auto Mall. Driving that train, high on cocaine...
Exterior
Let me just start by saying this is an eye candy, bell bottom
wearing chick magnet that is totally rust free, has laser straight
steel panels, well minded gaps, a perfect front grille that has not
even seen a bug hit it, and now all bathed in factory black. Oh,
but this is only the beginning! Let's throw on a porthole bubble
window on each side, airbrush some groovy graphics of fading in and
out flames, and have them confined to a wide stripe like graphic
that runs around the body and ascends into the rear bubble
portholes. For the large area of black canvas remaining on either
side how about an airbrushed scene with mountains in the background
and a cavern rim edge and some haunting trees and encircling
vultures. All warm tones and just a beautiful work of the 1970's
are worthy of gracing a black velvet canvas as well, to hang over
my polyester covered bottle green couch, but I digress. This van
sports some nifty side pipes all chromed and nice, and of course
15-inch Cragar mag styled wheels, polished big rig side view
mirrors and immaculate chromed bumpers. Original badging is all
there, and nicely preserved showroom condition window trimmings
abound all around. I'll be right there; I'm tying my platform
shoes.
Interior
A swing of any door takes us back to 1974 shag-alicious heaven that
covers nearly every square inch of the interior. Light gray
extra-long shag material is peppered throughout with some black and
is as clean as the day it was installed. A rear platform bed is now
installed and is covered with...shag! In the center is a black
formica cabinet that houses a mini fridge and has open space to its
left, (rear facing), side. Mounted to this cabinet and the ceiling
are dual red, white and blue plastic ornaments for some extra kick
to this overwhelming visual interior palette. Speaking of
overwhelming, in front are 2 captain's chairs seen with wide
houndstooth inserts in black and white broadcloth, with nice
perfect black smooth vinyl bolsters. These have armrests and the
passenger chair swivels. Upfront the original dash is painted in a
contrasting butterscotch paint and is truly all original. This is
fronted with the original steering wheel, also in butterscotch. The
center of the dash has been customized with an AM/FM/8 track tape
player and oval speaker. Below the dash on the passenger side is a
high output heater. All this sits between you guessed it, black and
white shag carpet covered door panels. Insert Jimi Hendrix National
Anthem rendition from Woodstock, and let's breathe it all in. Just
1970s beautiful.
Drivetrain
Under the small front hood is a perfectly preserved lineup of
intake, radiator, battery, horn, and wiper motor. Hidden behind
this is a 302ci V8 that is fed by a single 2-barrel carburetor. The
transmission is a 3-speed manual version and throws power to the
back through a Ford 9-inch rear axle. All factory looking with just
a very slight patina. Flower power!
Undercarriage
Beautifully preserved with a smidgeon of surface rust, but
certainly all unremarkable. Front independent coil spring
suspension is noted, and on back leaf springs. Power drums bring
this time capsule to a stop efficiently.
Drive-Ability
With such low mileage we've respected this and only started the
van. It fired right up and had a nice gurgle to the side piped
exhaust.
Harkening back to my high school days of yore which were smack dab
in the center of this craze, I would have killed for a van like
this. This one is a rolling crib that provides room for some
chillaxin, among other things that come to mind. Truly the black
painted and airbrushed, side piped shagged out bomb. Dream On.
VIN DECODE
E14GHV66795
E14-Econoline 1/2 Ton
G-302ci V8
H-Lorain, OH Assy Plant
V66795-Sequential Unit Number
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 600 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown,
Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia
on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is
www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914.
Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the
vehicle in person.
